Yusuke Alone
by JessKnowsBest
Summary: Revamped. Yusuke loses girl, gets assignment, gets girl. Girl gets kidnapped by former employer, gets saved by love. Gang's all here, plus new faces. Drama ensues.
1. Prologue

Dude so it's been way to long since I've taken pen-to-paper (figuratively, of course. I'm typing this) and I've decided to rewrite a fic that's been almost four years in the making!

&&Prologue

To be honest, he had imagined it quite differently. Their future, of course. It had been nicer, calmer, significantly longer. Well he could go ahead and let those dreams wash down the tubes.

Hadn't he told her he was going to marry her? Why couldn't she have believed him? Why did she have to doubt him? Why did she have to get impatient, get stupid, and get married?

The fan was on high, but even so the room was stifling. Yusuke lay on his back, above the comforter, on his bed. His eyes were heavily lidded – he was trying to get to sleep, but his mind wouldn't stop wandering. Wandering to her.

Stupid Keiko. Stupid Makai. Stupid everything.

He had freaking promised her! His eyebrows furrowed, and his fingers slowly curled into fists. He could recall the day with ease – when she had gotten so upset with him when she realized he'd be leaving for years. But he had told her! He'd told her that he'd come back, that he would marry her before their eighteenth birthdays. And he had certainly intended to. But Keiko – his Keiko – had beaten him to the alter. With some stupid college kid, sniveling but with some astronomically high IQ.

He rolled over, his skin mutely sticking to the pillow beneath his chin. It was so goddamn hot. Stupid summer. He closed his eyes. Stupid everything.

&&

Koenma's eyes scanned the screen in front of him. A list of a half-dozen names, maybe more, scrolled idly while he sat in thought. _Dyruko, eh? Have to call in the gang for this one..._

He coughed, commenced reading. Dyruko, Tonnie, Nuber, Maro, Faerd. Then give or take a handful of humans. In Chicago, of all places. Didn't America have its own line of defense when it came to demons? Clearly not. The Prince rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then called for his Ogre.

&&

R&R!


	2. Chapter 1

Now maybe something interesting can actually happen...

//The Confession

"There's a reason I've called you all here," Koenma began, scanning the faces in front of him. Kurama was looking bright-eyed, as usual. The redhead had yet to share his good fortune with the group. Koenma smiled, thinking of the reaction. Kuwabara, too, was trying to pay attention. But that's really all he could do. Hiei was standing nonchalantly off to the side, occasionally sending side-long glances at Kurama. So the koorime had already noticed the change.

But someone was missing.

Koenma frowned. "Ah... Where's Yusuke?"

Now Kuwabara managed to look genuinely interested. He hesitated, then realized that the others really didn't know what had happened yet. For the first time, he was the first to know! He could have smiled, had the news not been so dire. He rubbed the back of his head, looking down. "He found out that Keiko got married."

Kurama turned. "What?"

"She didn't explain much to Shizuru when she came over last week. Jus' that she got tired of waiting for Yusuke. And there was this guy she was kinda seeing, an' he proposed to her.. an' she said yes." He shook his head. "Only one week before Yusuke got home. One damn week."

Koenma sighed. Silly human troubles. He coughed, causing the others to look back at him again. "He'll get over it," he said firmly. "But right now we have more important matters to discuss." He pulled a remote control out from beneath his desk, and aimed it at a screen to his left. A moment later, a map of the Central United States appeared. There was a gold star on Chicago. "His name is Dyruko. And he aims to destroy the world."

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Where have we heard that before?"

"Don't underestimate your opponent – isn't that your own advice, Hiei?" Asked Koenma coolly. "Anyway, stopping him isn't your only goal. Rumor has it that he's got a Princess under his control."

Kuwabara brightened. "A Princess?"

The Prince nodded. "Need I repeat myself? So I'm sending you guys to Chicago with.." He paused to think. "Yukina, I think. And Botan, too. It will be your job to find Dyruko, detain him, and find the Princess. Her homeland requires her immediate return, seeing as she's been missing upwards of seventeen years."

"S-seventeen years?" Kuwabara sputtered.

Koenma smiled. "Aisha will explain it to you later. Your plane leaves in the morning. I'll fill in Botan on everything else you need to know, and she'll let you know when you arrive in the Windy City tomorrow."

//1

"Chicago, huh? What's there?"

Botan's voice was crackly over the communicator she shared with Yusuke. "Dyruko. Think Sensui, only more.. demon." She frowned. "He's attempting the same feat – get the demons to pledge eternal control to him, then let them run rampant on the world. Simultaneously making him the sole leader of both Makai and the Human World. Something we want to avoid."

He snorted. "Oh no, Botan. Every year for Christmas I wished for some badass demon to come and destroy us all." He closed the communicator, tossing it onto his dresser. Looking out his window, he ran a hand through his slick black hair. Chicago, eh?

//1

"So are you going to tell us why you've been grinning like a ningen puppy all day?"

Hiei glanced icily to Kurama, who was seated across the aisle from him. Yusuke was in the back of the cabin, listening to head phones so loud that even the deafest human could hear the basic pounding. Kuwabara had locked himself in the bathroom. Hiei preferred not to think about that. Yukina was listening to Botan gush about Chicago, natural scenic beauty and stuff like that. Then Kurama.

"You mean you can't tell?"

"Oh, no. I know. I just wanted to know if you'd tell me. Or the others, for that matter. None of them have the slightest clue who you are now."

Kurama leaned back in his chair. "It's such a feeling of freedom. I wasn't sure I'd ever experience inhabiting my own body without some other spirit." He flexed the fingers in his right hand. "Luckily, though, I retained some of his powers, even after the separation was complete. So I'll still be of some use on this mission."

Hiei thought back to Koenma's warning, and inwardly doubted them. The Reikai Tantei had managed to destroy everything that dared defy them. Why would now be any different?

//1

"There are five of them," Botan explained. "Dyruko, of course." She was fumbling with the file of folders in front of her. The others were waiting patiently, anxious to hear who they were up against. "Bad to the bone, we know. Only a handful of surprises; one or two basic powers, but he has them honed to do real damage." She dropped a glossy image in the center of the table. The creature depicted was green-skin, with white hair. Very lizardlike.

"His Lady Love is called Tonnie," Botan continued, dropping another photo. This one had a handsome woman, appearing in all ways human, except for her magenta curly hair. "Telekinetic, telepathic. Very high IQ, I'm sure."

The third was Nuber. "Can't do much," Botan said, her tone almost disappointed. "Just grow to gigantic sizes." His stretchy skin was blue, and he looked like the thing from The Blob.

"Maro," Botan introduced, sliding a fourth image onto the table. Maro was massive, though muscles instead of Nuber's flab. His own skin was violet, and he had a mane of darker purple hair. He was wearing black armor, like some Frankenstein from the Round Table. Botan frowned. "Super strength and speed. Imagine Togoro, I suppose. Only I doubt Maro is trying to clench his own destruction."

The last was Faerd. Like Tonnie, he looked human. "Not much about this own. He's a demon, but Koenma doesn't think he has any actual talents. Sneaky, thrifty. Would make a good spy. But that's about it."

"What about the humans?" Kurama asked once she was finished.

She shook her head. "Nothing. For all purposes, they're inconsequential. Any of you, on your bad days, could destroy an army of humans with your eyes closed. Koenma's not exactly worried about them."

Kuwabara suddenly looked up. "Hey! When we were back in Koenma's office, he mentioned 'Aisha'. Are we supposed to know who that is?"

Botan shook her head again. "Don't worry about her right now. She's a representative from the Kingdom – the one that's missing its Princesses."

"Princess_es_?"

Botan blushed, and waved her hand. "Nothing, nothing. Aisha will tell you later."

Yusuke looked down. All he really wanted to do was curl up into a ball and die, but it didn't look like his dreams were to be realized any time soon. "I'm turning in," he said, standing. Nobody stopped him as he walked into his room. He collapsed on his bed. But he could not sleep.

//1

"Botan."

"Yes, Koenma Sir?"

"When they're awake, alert them they're going to be joined."

"What? There are already six of us here! If we want to maintain any kind of secrecy.."

"Don't worry about it. Just tell them. Four more will be there by noon."

//1

R&R!


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